The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for placing finished disc records in envelopes and situating the envelopes with the disc records therein in a stack.
As is well known, as soon as the manufacture of disc records is completed, the finished records must be individually situated in envelopes, and the filled envelopes must then be arranged in a stack. At the present time the known methods and apparatus for enclosing the records within envelopes and arranging the envelopes within a stack are relatively complex and expensive. Furthermore, even though the known methods and apparatus are relatively complex and expensive nevertheless it is still required that a certain amount of manual operations be provided in connection with the placing of finished records in envelopes and the stacking of the filled envelopes.
For example, the finished records when placed in the envelopes immediately subsequent to the manufacture of the records are still warm and easily bendable so that they are easily warped. In order to avoid such warping metal separator plates are placed in the stack of filled envelopes separating the stack into groups of filled envelopes each of which includes a given number of filled envelopes. Thus, the metal separator plates will oppose the tendency of the records to warp immediately subsequent to the situation of the finished records in the envelopes. However, these separator plates are normally placed in the stack of filled envelopes manually so that undesirable labor costs are involved in these operations.
Moreover, the known relatively complex methods and apparatus for placing the records in the envelopes and stacking the filld envelopes not only involve complex designs which are easily subject to faulty operation, but in addition to a particular design is usually suited only for one type of record-manufacturing machine. Thus, each conventional record-manufacturing machine must at the present time be provided with its own unique structure for placing the finished records in envelopes and stacking the filled envelopes.